Archive for the 'Hip-Hop/Rap' Category

Okay guys, so here’s a new post that’s off the topic of sports for once. Lets talk music. Lets talk drums. As some of you may know, Travis Barker is one of my favorite drummers. He was really great with blink-182, and I try to learn how to play his songs all the time myself. Recently I have been hearing and seeing a lot of his new work, Travis Barker Remixes, where he takes a rap song and drums over it. He has done this to many songs, including “Crank That” by Soulja Boy, “Low” by Flo-Rida, “Dope Boys” by The Game, “Umbrella” by Rihanna, and many more. This adds a new element to the song and gives it more of an edge than previously.

^Barker’s most recent remix to a song by Drake (caution: explicit lyrics)

However, this is not Barker’s best drumming. Although the rhythms he makes are catchy, they are rather simplistic. This experiment is very creative, but the actual quality of the music is not very good. Barker really only shows his talents a few times when he does fills. Barker’s best drumming is and always will be with blink-182. One of Barker’s many drum skills is how fast that he actually can play while still sounding great. Most rap songs are slow and repetative, while punk rock songs can be very fast, so this suits Barker better and plays more to his strengths.

^Barker drumming for blink-182 (Caution: explicit lyrics)

I’m not dissing Barker’s remixes by any means, I actually like most of them. He can pretty much pull off anything he wants in the studio because he is that great. But the point that I am trying to get across is that for people who do not know him or his work, his remixes are not his best drumming.

For some time now Lil’ Wayne has made it clear he wants to start a new chapter in his musical life. That chapter would be rock music. He has released numerous songs in this “rock genre” of him “singing” to rock music. His most notable song has to be “Prom Queen”. Personally, I think it is just downright awful. He uses auto-tune to help him sing, but it does not help much at all.

Then to make my opinion even stronger, I came across this song today on RapBasement.com called “Lifes Too Short” by Weezy himself. I decided to preview it, and after about 10 seconds of hearing him try to rap over what sounds like a 5 year-old drumming, I turned it off. The drums are all over the place. I mean, I think I could have done a better job on the drums, and I have never played them before. The best version of Lil’ Wayne does not produce rock music. In fact, he doesn’t even produce the music he puts out now. The Carter II might be his best album, in my opinion, and then The Carter III. Nowadays, it’s just the same thing over and over, mixed in with terrible auto-tune.

For anyone that doesn’t believe that this song is terrible, here’s the link. See for yourself.

Alright I’m doing something new for the music section of the blog. I’ve been in touch with some up-and-coming artists, and I’m going to be writing some spotlights on them. The first one is about a man from the Bronx, New York, CAUSE.

CAUSE already has an album on iTunes (The New Golden Era…very nice!), but he still isn’t satisfied with where he is at. He wants more (who doesn’t??). CAUSE isn’t your ordinary rapper that you see nowadays. Instead, he reminds me of some rappers like Talib Kwali. A lot of his music is about his history, his life now, and his future dreams. Something different.

CAUSE also gives back to the fans. I hit him up on Twitter (@CauseMusic) and he got right back to me thanking me for the support. Not everybody does that. Immediately I had to help him get bigger, so here you go CAUSE!

So if you want some new music in your life, something that isn’t the same thing you hear over and over again, go to his MySpace and check his music out.

September 13, 2009 a new Tupac Shakur album will be released. Yes, I said it. A new Tupac album. Cassettes have been found containing Tupac’s earliest recordings, and are now being digitally remastered and made into an album; Shakurspeare. (For those who don’t know, Tupac Shakur attended the Baltimore School for the Arts. Everybody knows him as being affiliated with the West Side, but he is local!)

Even if you are not a hip-hop fan, you have to recognize Tupac as one of the best rappers of all time. He had an impact on the genre that is still seen today. With hits such as California Love, Ambitionz Az a Ridah, and Thugz Mansion, it’s no wonder how he got to that level. For those who want to hear him before the huge fame, make sure to check out Shakurspeare September 13.

Jay-Z’s much anticipated new album, The Blueprint 3, will be released September 11 of this year. If this date holds, it will be the exact 8 year anniversary since Jay-Z released The Blueprint. Recently the album artwork was leaked and raised many questions, such as what do the three red stripes represent, and what does the image mean?

Jay-Z answered these questions to MTV: “These things are like the forgotten pieces in hip-hop,” Hov explained. “It’s still about music. It’s not about radio, making gimmicks — it’s still about making music. Those things are piled in the corner. These are the forgotten things about music. It’s still about music. It’s not about radio, it’s not about making gimmicks, it’s about music. The three stripes that everybody is asking about is made from the original [number] three. The first three they made on the wall was someone carving. If you look at [the number] 3, all they did was connect lines. The whole thing about this album, how I approached it, is that I wanted to make a new classic to start that all over again — to go back to making classic albums like the ones we grew up listening to.” (MTV)

Two hits have already been released from this album, “D.O.A.” (Death of Autotune) and “Run This Town” which features Rihanna and Kanye West.

Not many people have heard of the two brother group from St. Thomas known as Rock City, but soon many people will. Theron and Tim Thomas came up in the streets of St. Thomas, also known as Rocky City. They had to work hard and stay out of trouble to try to make it far in life. Although Reggae was the primary genre where they lived, their parents listened to Hip-Hop. This inspired the two to make their own genre, combining the two.

After performing at shows, Rock City started to grow around St. Thomas and came to the U.S. to spread their music. Theron and Tim hit the streets of Miami and Atlanta, and began writing songs for huge stars such as Usher, Busta Rhymes, Eve, and Nicole Scherzinger. In a recent freestyle with Chris Brown to Drake’s “Ransom”, they rap “Whatever’s your favorite song, most likely we wrote it.”

After releasing “Losin’ It” last summer, people across the states started to reckognize Rock City. On July 4th, they released their new mixtape “PTFAO”. Usually when I download a mixtape, I delete a few songs, but I kept every song from this mixtape. They’re flow is smooth and perfect for the summer time. They rap in a few songs, like their “Ransom” freestyle, or sing about where they came from to where they are now. The two make songs that are different from the same old rap songs you hear now-a-days.

If you hear a song that says “Right About Now” at the beginning in a Caribbean accent, it’s a Rock City’s hit.

In the last few days, two up-and-coming rappers, Ace Hood and Maino, released two new albums. This is Ace Hood’s second album, and despite having singles out for a while now, this is only Maino’s debut album. Ace Hood’s album “Ruthless” features songs like “Get Money ft. Rick Ross”, “Overtime ft. Akon & T-Pain”, and “Born an OG ft. Ludacris”. Maino’s “If Tomorrow Comes…” features his first hit “Hi Hater”, “Million Bucks ft. Swizz Beats”, “All The Above ft. T-Pain”, and “Remember My Name”.

When I listened to a few songs from “Ruthless” and previewed the rest, I downloaded a few of them but thought that most of his songs were under the same thing, getting money. Not every song is about just money, but you can find that most of the songs fit under that category. However I do like Ace Hood’s flow and rhymes and recommend this album.

I found that “If Tomorrow Comes…” can be categorized under being hood and coming up from nothing. I don’t like as many songs from this album as I do from “Ruthless”, but I think that’s because I would prefer to listen to Ace Hood over Maino.

Despite what I say, go check the albums out. These two are quickly becoming popular in the Hip-Hop world.